That day we brought home a hound.

For those of you who read LWA regularly, you know that in January, we were hit pretty hard. We said goodbye to our beloved Basset, Gertrude. It’s been a hard few months as we’ve gone through the grieving and healing process. Like many pet parents, the conversation came up of when, or if, to get a new dog. We decided that if we would get another dog, we would get another hound, and started looking at various adoptables, waiting for one to touch our hearts. Eventually, we found Fulton, with a little help from Gertrude.

Finding Fulton

When Zack adopted Gertrude, he didn’t originally plan to get her. He wanted to adopt a Basset Hound, as his parents had a Basset who struggled with aggression when he was a baby and they had to rehome; he wanted the story to come full circle, giving another hound in need a loving home. Zack found Florence. Florence was gorgeous, photo-perfect, an adorable Basset waiting just for him…or not. When he called about Florence, she had just been adopted. Instead, the rescue mentioned they had just brought in another young Basset, Gertrude, that he was welcome to meet. They sent him photos of the dog, and Gertrude was anything but photo-shoot perfect…she looked rather…busted. Gertrude had had an abusive past and was in rough shape. Out of guilt more than intrigue, Zack agreed to meet Gertie. When he met her in person, his heart stopped–He knew he’d found his heart dog.

In the original search for a hound, we ideally wanted a blue tick, male, between the ages of 1 and 3. We thought a puppy might be too much for Arie, and we fell in love with the blue tick coat. We also needed a cat-friendly hound, which, let me tell you, isn’t exactly a common find. We found a stunning blue tick boy who met every need we had in NC and we instantly fell in love…until his rescue told us they deny out of state adoptions. Hearts broken, we began searching again. I found an English Coonhound by the name of Chauncey during my search. He looked okay in his photos, but didn’t grab my heart the way the other dog did. Chauncey was with a rescue in SC near my home town, and as we were driving up for Easter in just a week or two at the time, we decided to call about him and see if we could meet him. Little did we know that an almost identical rescue situation to what Zack had had with Gertrude was about to play out–One look at Chauncey, and we knew he was ours.

Adjusting to a new home is hard work for a dog.

New Life, New Name

In most rescue situations, I’m very big on the idea of giving a dog a new name to go with their new lease on life in a new home. The rescue who had taken Chauncey in had given him a proper, English name to go with his breed, and also to deter those who may be looking for a derpy hound dog to tie outside in their yard. Chauncey’s foster mom had a special place in her heart for this boy, whom she affectionately called her “house hound,” and wanted to be sure he found his right people, who would love him and treat him as a member of the family–Not a hunting accessory.

Once in the family, we knew we wanted to give Chauncey a new name for his new home. We batted around plenty of names; Benton was a top contender, along with Emmett, Merle, Hank…the list went on and on. Zack came up with the eventual winner–Fulton. We’re moving to our first owned home this month in a historical district of Atlanta. Fulton relates to the county and to many of the buildings and historical notes of the area. This year is all about new beginnings in a historical area, and we wanted Fulton’s name to reflect that.

Adjusting to the scenery

Fulton is getting used to his new life with us, and to living with Arie and having cats (!!!!) that are friends. Here’s a little bit about our new boy and how he’s adjusting to home life so you can get to know him better:

Full Name: Fulton Weller Moore-Smith the first – Named for history around my new house, a beloved well whiskey, and mom and dad’s soon-to-be married name.

Age: My original owners said I was just a year old, but the rescue told mom and dad that I’m more likely 2 or 3. Either way, I’m a young boy!

Weight: Mom and dad told me that I would be a good size for my sister as a playmate… I’m right at 80 lbs, so mom says I should lose a few, but I say I just have more to love…can I have some treats, now?

Hobbies: SNIFFING ALL THE THINGS (I’m a hound after all), learning that cats are friends, not food, and fun to chase fun to respect and love from a distance.

Favorite things: Zuke’s treats. Mom say’s they’re amazing for training me, but I just think she likes to give me tasty things when I do good things, like sit and go to my bed. If you need some, click to the right to go to Amazon–You can get them there.

Bad habits: Mom says I have very poor ‘impulse control’.. No idea what that’s about. I’m always in con– SQUIRREL!